By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment
In our world punctuated by death, wars, famines and a global economic crisis, good news is a rare breath of fresh air that we seldom get to enjoy. Then, just a few days ago, the news came from the Middle East that Israeli 25 years old IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was about to be released from his Hamas captors, and THAT, is good news!
Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas on June 25, 2006 and held hostage ever since in an undisclosed location somewhere in Gaza. For over five years, during which he became an international figure, Shalit has been secretly kept away from any and all government delegations and human rights agencies. Countless organizations, countries and people have been in favor of his release…to no avail!
Because of the nature of his abduction and Hamas’ lack of willingness for any dialogue, his capture is now commonly and rightfully so, referred to as a “kidnapping”, one that goes against the Geneva Convention.
For the last five years, much prayer has gone in favor of Shalit’s release. It appears that on October 11, 2011, an agreement was reached between the Israeli government of Benyamin Netanyahu and Hamas. The agreement regarding the release of Shalit within days includes the release of 1,027 Palestinians in return.
The negotiations will take place in three phases. Firstly, in the middle of next week Shalit will be moved to Egypt and then to Israel while the first 450 prisoners will simultaneously be realesed from Israeli prisons. Secondly, After Shalit is released to the Red Cross, 27 female prisoners will be added to the 450 previously released. Finally, in another two months, another 550 prisoners will be released for a grand total of 1,027.
There you have it, the sanctity of human life versus the idolatry of death!
I understand how important the choice of the 1,027 is, in regards to the degree of danger posed by the release of some key terorrists, and I agree with Israel for not releasing senior Palestinian prisoners like Marwan Barghouti or Ahmed Saadat. I also understand, and frankly, I admire the commitment of the Israeli government to secure the release of Gilad Shalit. YES, ONE LIFE IS THAT IMPORTANT!!!
How ironic that Israel, so often painted as the “New Nazis of the Middle-East” or “Occupiers of Palestine” would see fit to exchange 1 life for 1,027 lives! But you see, Israel really is the only democracy of the Middle East and the only country to respect human life in that volatile region of the world. While numerous Islamists stand in line to blow themselves up in the name of Allah, Netanyahu’s cabinet stays up all night to figure out a way to negotiate for the life of ONE.
There are three guarantees from Gilad Shalit’s imminent release:
1. A number of the released prisoners will soon be back on the street posing a real danger to Israeli soldiers AND citizens, again!
2. Kidnapping will most certainly be added to the list of successful methods that terrorist organization like Hamas and Al-Qaeda will use to fulfill their destructive agenda.
By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment
One February 2010, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was invited to lecture about US-Israel relations at UCI (University of California Irvine). Soon after he started, students started to stand and interrupt him shouting statements such as:” Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech”. A total of 11 students stood up and yelled, 8 from UCI in Orange County, but also 3 from Riverside.
The students were speaking on cue, even using cards, in what clearly appeared to be a “rehearsed show”.
The connection with the MSU (Muslim Student Union) shouldn’t be missed, as they had denounced Oren’s visit hours prior. The same MSU is responsible for organizing a yearly event in the Spring that has been known as Hate-Fest, when they invite anti-Israel speakers, many of them having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and even the terrorist group Hamas.
UCI has the reputation of being the most virulent anti-Semitic campus in America, yet Michael Drake (UCI chancellor) has been quoted to say that there was no such problem on campus. To his credit, he decided to revoke the MSU charter for one year and put them on probation for another year. Thus they did not have the opportunity to organize their annual anti-Israel rallye in 2010. They quickly resumed in May of 2011 with another week of vitriolic diatribes while on probation. Well, we are back to freedom of speech I guess!
The anti-Israel rhetoric is nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing or anti-Semitism in disguise. That is of course if we agree that anti-Israel sentiment, as the lesser of two evils is indeed the “sheep”, and this is hardly a fact!
Almost one year later, on February 4, 2011, the disrupting students were facing charges by the Orange County District Attorney. This was already a small victory against the poison of radical Islam and it certainly didn’t go unnoticed by both Jewish and Muslim communities. This was small but worth mentioning in our politically correct self mutilating society. And yet, the verdict had not come out!
On September 23rd, the Santa Ana Court in Orange County, California made their final deliberation and to much surprise, found the students GUILTY. They were sentenced to community service and put on a three-year probation.
This is a great victory in the history of campus anti-Semitism. This creates a precedent that will for sure dictate how other universities will and should react to hate speech, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. It sends a message to those who go on spewing hatred, thinking that they will go unpunished.
This is one case where “Campus Intifada” has been defeated because there were enough outraged people within and without our legal system, and they were not afraid to speak up and defend the truth.
An anti-Semitic group attempted to propagate hate speech by misusing free speech but Judeo-Christian ethics prevailed over radical Islam lack of ethics.
Chutzpah prevailed over Sharia and may the momentum continue!
One might ask what do soccer and Jew hatred have to do with each other? Nothing at first glance! Yet if you attend a soccer game in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, you might hear fans shouting things like “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas!” or even “horrible cancer Jews!”
Why in the world would such anti-Semitic slogans be delivered from the bleachers, during a soccer game? Is one team playing against the Israeli team? No! (not that it would justify the hatred anyway). Are some of the players Jewish? Not necessarily!
It appears that the team from Amsterdam known as Ajax had its fans refer to themselves as Jews years ago. Some claim that it has Jewish roots. Israeli flags are displayed at games, fans call themselves “Super Jews” and there was even a time when the song o f victory was “Hava Nagila”. The Jewish connection, if it ever existed, is far into the past anyway. The fans have recently been encouraged to drop the Jewish themes, to no avail, as the picture below seems to indicate.
Personally, I think that this is a bit strange and out of place at a sport’s event, but I cannot really complain when anybody chooses to identify themselves with my people in any positive way. It just happens so seldom!
My concern lies with the rival teams using anti-Semitic diatribes against Ajax and its fan base. To be sure, they are anti-Semitic in content NOT in context! But does that really matter? When is it EVER appropriate to shout back that Jews should be gassed or to make a hissing sound reminiscent of the sound of the gas flowing in Auschwitz corridors of death, during the game?
There is something inherently wrong going on here. While I can understand the mockery that goes on between two sides at a game, belittling the Holocaust will never be an appropriate approach in that context (or any context for that matter).
Would it be OK to shout “Go back to picking cotton” at an African American team or fan base? NO!
Would it be OK to shout ” We bomb you again” at a Japanese team or fan base? NO! But not to worry, this would never happen anyway in our politically correct/ ethically crippled world! Do I detect a bit of a double standard here?
So, by the same principle, while it is unfortunate that the Ajax fans call themselves “Super Jews” the politically loaded statement of “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the Gas” sends a message that goes much deeper into the Jewish psyche than a simple soccer game insult, and that is simply loathsome and wrong.
It is rooted in anti-Semitism and fueled by the modern acceptance that Jews around the world are a nuisance, thus it OK to denigrate and demonize them. Nobody seems to care anyway!
All over the world, my people tread on very thin ice already. Europe is increasingly becoming a continent where Jews are again NOT WELCOME. I think this goes to prove that the chameleon of hatred that is anti-Semitism can take many different colors but at the end of the day, it is the same beast!
I am reminded from God’s word that all men are made in His image thus that all men are equal.
“And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27)
Yeshua (Jesus) also taught in Luke 10:27